MFi5 OP – Year 2

Bit late with the update but for Year 2 of my MFi5 Challenge I managed to OP by the grand total of £5,000 – that's a total of £12,000 in 2 years :) Am very, very pleased :)

Mainly achieved from wages left at the end of the month, over time, Birthday/Christmas money, MS, clicks, surveys, cash-back and a little bit of E-bay.

Plan for Year 3 – same as above but hope to add selling my handmade crafts ….. I have plans ;)

For Year 2 I made a Mortgage Tree, every leaf represents £100 over-payment. Picture's a bit rubbish quality but the light at the moment is terrible, roll on light evenings!!

More Camping

This weekend I went camping again :)

Different set of friends, for a long weekend in the New Forest. We went to Roundhill campsite, it was great fun. One of our group members had a brain fade with their BBQ - haha. Pleased to say it wasn't me :)



Horses and cattle roamed around and there was a small pond where they all went to drink and splash around, we had great weather apart from Sunday morning - then it tipped down for about an hour just as we were leaving.

Birthdays, Reunions and Meadow Camping

The last few weeks of July have been pleasantly busy :)

Birthday meal and a Goth night out on the town for one friend, a mini college re-union with another. Haven't “seen” him for 15 years, he emigrated to Canada after college. It was a lovely evening at his parents old place in the Forest having a BBQ and a catch-up with some old faces.



Then the highlight of my year “Camping at River Cross Meadow” I just LOVE this week so much! Communal living at it's best - great people, so relaxing and fantastic fun. I managed to get this amazing picture of the full moon with a buzzard.

Waddington Air Show

Summer is here at last!! We've had temperatures up to 30°C!

Last weekend we went to the Waddington Air Show we had a glorious day. Beautiful clear skies, a lovely picnic and good friends. This is just a small selection of the photo's I took, it was an amazing day. My favourite were:

The Blades



The Red Arrows they put on an amazing show as always - perfection



The Sentinel



The Vulcan

The Next Step

I am out of the Transformer Boot and into an ankle support!! :)

I can now shuffle around the house with no crutches and just need them for balance when outside. I can carry things again!! Oh the joy!! Walking properly will still take time but it's good to be on the next step to full recovery.



I have knitted 100 roses for my show :) I have started knitting leaves so I can make up some garlands, I think they look pretty neat!

Cat Beards!

Hahahaaha is all I can say.

The latest internet craze for cat beards is hilarious.

This is my effort :)



Next meeting with the consultant is 6th June when I hopefully lose the boot, can't wait!! I NEED to leave the house now before I go mad.....or madder than normal ;)

What happened to March & April??

Wow, it's been a busy couple of months!!

End February/beginning of March I went to visit my friend in Lincoln. It was a lovely weekend pottering around, we went to visit The Collection Museum and then did a spot of window/charity shop shopping. Randomly I came home with an armchair!! :)





I've also been frantically knitting roses for our art show - ARTificial! We have finally booked the venue, it's being held on Sunday 3rd November!! Soooo EXCITED!! It's actually happening!!!



I finally got my ankle looked at too :( When I fell over in Costa Rica as well as bruising/cracking some ribs I also hurt my ankle, I didn't take much notice at the time as I assumed it would just get better but it hasn't....after x-rays and blood tests I had an MRI and it was found I'd managed to split the peroneal tendon and it could only be fixed with an operation. I am currently recuperating from that in what I have lovingly termed my Transformer Boot.



Think most of May will be spent recuperating and knitting :)

Keep on plodding on

It's been a busy but interesting few weeks.

It was my Bro's birthday the end of January so I treated him to a weekend in Somerset visiting a friend and their Art Show – The House of “F” Art – Fakes, Frauds and Flagrant Rip-off's. It was such good fun!!! And I have now been inspired to put on a similar show myself! A friend and myself are aiming to do it together and rope in as many people as possible :) I am SOOOOO excited!!

This was my fake - Christ in the Sepulchre - William Blake



There were some awesome pieces:











We had a cream tea in the most amazing place:



This was followed Sunday afternoon after arriving home by a walk in the Forest and afternoon tea in a hotel with OH and friends...lovely!

First weekend in February was a stay at home weekend – caught up the housework:

Saturday list

Wash cat sick off sofa – DONE
Hoover and mop floors – DONE
Wash up x 2 – DONE
Clean sink and toilet, wipe the dust that settles on the back of the toilet pipes – DONE
Washing on & hanging to dry – DONE
Wipe the table and work surfaces – DONE
Shred paperwork – DONE
Wash litter trays – DONE
Strip, wash and remake bed – DONE
Clear hall - DONE
Empty the bins – Bathroom – DONE
Take out recycling – DONE
Wipe the hob – DONE
Make time for somebody else - My Bro – DONE & Nanny Cool – DONE

Sunday list

Get bag of litter out of shed – DONE

This Weekend I had a baby shower to attend – my God 15 girls can be loud and screechy!!! Was fun though and I bought the baby the sweetest little jacket to come out of hospital with – it even had ears!!! awwwww!! :)

Sunday list

Washing on, finished and hanging up to dry – DONE
Washing up x3 – DONE
Hoover/mop all floors – DONE
Declutter and wipe work surfaces – DONE
Clean shell pot – DONE
Wash back and front door – DONE

Snowy Beach Huts

Happy 2013

Well it's been a few weeks!!

I am now called "The girl that postponed Christmas" by my Bro as both myself and OH had the dreaded Norovirus or “Norbert” as we nicknamed it!! Silver lining was I must have had some dislocated ribs down the side and being ill popped them back in place....LOL!! Ribs now completely healed – Result!!

Luckily we both have lovely families and they postponed Christmas in full until the weekend after – so we both had a full on Christmas dinner, present opening with family affair Saturday/Sunday followed by New Years Eve on Monday with friends :) Was awesome.

So Kick Arse December ended with:

20 No Spend Days (NSD) – I managed 10
£270 food budget for the whole month (Joint Account – JA) – I spent £220 – result!
£200 for presents/food/social outings (My Account – MA) - £279.08 - oppppss :(
Must take packed lunches – no food from cafe's etc – 60p for a packet of crisps – not too bad!
£250 petrol allowance – (JA) - £101.32 – being ill really reduced this!!
Apart “from fresh food” use up what is in freezer/pantry – mmmm, think I may have added :(
Pick one of my piggy banks and fill with change, do not open until the end of 2013, once full pick another piggy to fill. - DONE
Make a Christmas decoration per day for my own version of an advent calender from items I have in the house - Ummm, I got to 13 decorations, still I can make more next year...

All in all I don't think I did too badly and it really focuses the mind, this is the new one for January.

25 No Spend Days (NSD)
£250 food budget for the whole month (Joint Account - JA)
Must take packed lunches – no food from cafe's etc
£230 petrol allowance – (JA)
Apart “from fresh food” use up what is in freezer/pantry
Make £155 on Ebay
Find/gather £25 - points on something, pennies literally picked off the floor, receipt wombling in supermarket car parks, doubling coupons etc.
See what you can get for free